Jaguar Land Rover plans more Special Operations vehicles

With the Range Rover Sport SVR now on sale, JLR's new tuning division has turned its attention to the Defender
20 October 2014

Jaguar Land Rover is promising a nimble response to both the competition and customer demand from its Special Operations division – the newly formed entity that’s responsible for quickly turning the F-type Project 7 from concept to road car.  

Headed by former Land Rover boss John Edwards, the 500-employee department has four main areas of expertise: special vehicles, personalisation, heritage and branded goods. Its special vehicles work will deliver halo derivatives in the mould of the new Range Rover Sport SVR. 

Speaking to Autocar, Edwards explained that these will be sub-divided into luxury, performance and all-terrain offerings. The last of these, he said, would next year include special run-out editions of the Defender, identifying the broad conceptual space between the Camel Trophy and Paris-Dakar as interesting ground for such a vehicle. 

Land Rover will use 2015 as a celebration of its outgoing Defender. Edwards was adamant that the car’s owners would not be forgotten about in the years to come and highlighted the opportunities to engage with its fan base via the heritage wing of the new division. 

It is likely to be a busy year for Special Operations elsewhere. Edwards described the search for a ‘Project 8’ as a continuing process and confirmed that limited-run, stand-alone models fuelled by buyer enthusiasm were certainly going to be a significant part of the division’s future. 

What the SVR badge will mean for Jaguar derivatives is also still being finalised. Edwards cited the need to properly “define the DNA” of the brand before it could be appropriately applied to Jaguars. 

Using it to signify extreme all-wheel-drive versions of Jaguar models wasn’t ruled out. Nor was the incorporation of high-powered diesel engines, suggesting that JLR is determined to make SVR as relevant to Europe as it will be in lucrative petrol-based markets.

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Our Verdict

Land Rover Defender

The chassis and body are hugely strong and should last a lifetime. The detailing, such as the interior trim, is dreadful

The Land Rover Defender is an institution and unbeatable off road, if crude on it

fadyady

20 October 2014
Range Rover Sport SVR shattered the Ring record for SUVs and while doing so raised healthy questions about the reputation of some sport coupe / SUV makers but our car magazines have been rather under playing this worthy achievement! May we ask why?

Roadster

20 October 2014
What Land Rover has achieved with the Range Rover Sport SVR is nothing short of spectacular. They've managed to move the already class leading chassis ability of the car on to another different level, giving it handling that is phenomenal for this type of car and puts many so-called sports cars and other performance cars to shame. The massive grunt of the RR Sport SVR is also a contributing factor, but it's the amazing chassis that has allowed this car to lap the Nurburgring in the time it did and demolish all its rivals like the Cayenne Turbo, X5M and ML63 AMG. And yet Land Rover's, and this car's, achievements have been low key and almost overlooked when they should be lauded and praised. The RR Sport SVR is further evidence of Land Rover and Jaguar's world beating engineering and technical expertise, yet we dismiss their achievements and still praise the inferior models from BMW, Mercedes, Audi and VW. In the case of the RR Sport, it beats the Cayenne, X5, Q7, ML, Toureg and every other rival hands down and yet we don't give it the credit it deserved. And the fact its all achieved by a British marque on a shoestring budget is even more of a testament to Land Rover. And be in no doubt that the SVR versions of other future Land Rover and Jaguar models will be equally crushingly competent and will trump all their rivals. I'm looking forward to a F Type SVR that will leave a 911 Turbo, Huracan, R8 and 458 trailing in its wake.

egonolzen

20 October 2014
Roadster wrote:
What Land Rover has achieved with the Range Rover Sport SVR is nothing short of spectacular. They've managed to move the already class leading chassis ability of the car on to another different level, giving it handling that is phenomenal for this type of car and puts many so-called sports cars and other performance cars to shame. The massive grunt of the RR Sport SVR is also a contributing factor, but it's the amazing chassis that has allowed this car to lap the Nurburgring in the time it did and demolish all its rivals like the Cayenne Turbo, X5M and ML63 AMG. And yet Land Rover's, and this car's, achievements have been low key and almost overlooked when they should be lauded and praised. The RR Sport SVR is further evidence of Land Rover and Jaguar's world beating engineering and technical expertise, yet we dismiss their achievements and still praise the inferior models from BMW, Mercedes, Audi and VW. In the case of the RR Sport, it beats the Cayenne, X5, Q7, ML, Toureg and every other rival hands down and yet we don't give it the credit it deserved. And the fact its all achieved by a British marque on a shoestring budget is even more of a testament to Land Rover. And be in no doubt that the SVR versions of other future Land Rover and Jaguar models will be equally crushingly competent and will trump all their rivals. I'm looking forward to a F Type SVR that will leave a 911 Turbo, Huracan, R8 and 458 trailing in its wake.

madmac

20 October 2014
Things look promising for the Ftype with the AWD coming,a MUST here in Canada.Would love to see the new XE with 450+ HP and AWD! AMG has missed the boat here by not bringing the GT and C63 with 4Matic.

Madmac

Oktoberfest

20 October 2014
....yet an SUV that breaks the record around the Nurburgring is heaped with the most incredible praise? That's got to be the ultimate pair of Union flag tinted spectacles with built in speakers blaring out God save the Queen. Or simply hypocritical.

Lanehogger

20 October 2014
Oktoberfest wrote:
....yet an SUV that breaks the record around the Nurburgring is heaped with the most incredible praise? That's got to be the ultimate pair of Union flag tinted spectacles with built in speakers blaring out God save the Queen. Or simply a hypocritical.
I faintly recall the X5M and AMG versions of the ML being regarded as pointless and inappropriate by Autocar when they first came out and were first driven (especially the 547bhp X5M which only came out 5 years ago), with massive performance, taut handling and lap times being deemed nonsensical. Yet when Land Rover wheels out a performance version of the Range Rover Sport....hmm.... how times have changed.

JIMBOB

20 October 2014
Darren Moss wrote:
Edwards cited the need to properly “define the DNA” of the brand before it could be appropriately applied to Jaguars. Using it to signify extreme all-wheel-drive versions of Jaguar models wasn’t ruled out.
Interesting approach. There was never enough brand value for 'Quattro' to be applied to other VAG cars, and I can't recall a similar arrangement recently where a sub-brand is applied across two major marques. I would hope that the 4x4 section of SVR focuses on off-road ability and design rather than speed and bling (the sight of 2 tonne lowered Range-Rover Sports with blacked out windows being driven recklessly is now an annoying cliche). It would be good for this to be trend-setting and intelligent rather than an in-house version of Overfinch, which I am sure would have been acquired had the BHP+Bling mix been the priority.

Cobnapint

20 October 2014
Have you put your tissues away yet Roadster? Well you'd better get them out again, for crying into. RR no longer claim that the SVR is 'the' fastest SUV round the ring, just 'one' of the fastest. The MY2015 Cayenne turbo out performs it, and by all accounts out handles it too. And the Turbo S hasn't even turned a wheel yet.

Winston Churchill

21 October 2014
Cobnapint wrote:
Have you put your tissues away yet Roadster? Well you'd better get them out again, for crying into. RR no longer claim that the SVR is 'the' fastest SUV round the ring, just 'one' of the fastest. The MY2015 Cayenne turbo out performs it, and by all accounts out handles it too. And the Turbo S hasn't even turned a wheel yet.
This is the troll formerly known as Fidji. Ignore him.


Citytiger

21 October 2014
the "J" part of JLR would stop messing around with vanity projects and actually start getting is core fleet in order, why does it take so long for them to release anything new, unless of course its just a be-spoilered and more powerful version of an existing vehicle. Why have we not even seen glimpses of an XE estate or coupe.

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